Times Of Swaziland: SOME SWALIMO MEMBERS WANT ‘GAWUZELA’ LEADERSHIP OUT

SOME SWALIMO MEMBERS WANT ‘GAWUZELA’ LEADERSHIP OUT
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Nhlanganiso Mkhonta on 25/08/2022 08:59:00


MBABANE – The infighting within SWALIMO seems to be continuing as some members
are now reportedly calling for a congress to elect new leadership of the party.
According to sources within the party, most members, whom they defined as active
members, were no longer happy with the current Swaziland Liberation Movement
(SWALIMO) President Mduduzi ‘Gawuzela’ Simelane’s leadership. “In fact,
the members are now aggrieved towards the whole National Executive Committee
(NEC) and want to elect a new one,” said the sources. However, the sources
stated that the NEC told them that there would not be any congress for the next
three years.
Dictating
The sources said the current leadership under Simelane was accused of being
dictating and imposing decisions without hearing anything said by the members.
They alleged that the current NEC took decisions on their own without involving
the junior line managers, who included the four district executives. The demand
for the hosting of the congress has been a hot topic for quite some time on the
party’s WhatsApp groups. It has been gathered that the members were
questioning the current leadership as to when the congress would be held because
the stated three years was too long for them to wait. The party has not yet
celebrated its first year anniversary as it was formed last year. According to
SWALIMO official website, the party was formed in June 2021, but it was launched
around mid November by its president and founder, Simelane.
Quitting
“It’s a chaotic situation as I speak. Members are quitting and the calls for
the congress are even louder now but the NEC is turning a blind eye to that,”
said one of the sources. The sources revealed that the calls for the congress
gained momentum after the NEC unveiled the SWALIMO Youth Command Unit. They
alleged the SWALIMO youth league committee was not elected but imposed on the
organisation by 1st Deputy Secretary General (DSG) Gift Dlamini. The sources
narrated that initially, the president, in a meeting, had commissioned the four
district chairpersons, secretariat and the national organising secretary, to
form a youth league committee. They assigned teams and started the task as
requested but two weeks down the line, Dlamini together with 2nd DSG Phephile
Ndzinisa and the Secretary General (SG) Siphetfo Dlamini, were seen on a live
video launching the youth league committee.
“We then took them to task on that, but they insisted that the committee would
continue despite that we were saying the committee was not inclusive as it was
imposed in that it did not come from the branches (from SWALIMO members),”
said the source. The source further narrated that a majority of the people
rejected the committee. It was established that the district executives took
that to the NEC, but unfortunately the NEC (top nine) sided with the secretariat
(SG and his deputies) and insisted that the committee was confirmed. It was
gathered that the district executives attempted to fight this battle for weeks
but their efforts proved futile.  The sources alleged that since the NEC
dictated every decision within the organization, it told the districts
executives point blank that no matter how much they fought this, they would not
win because it’s them (top nine) who were in charge, not the people.
“Even as I speak, the membership is rejecting the youth league committee,”
added the source. The sources further mentioned that this indicated that the
current SWALIMO top leadership was not siding with the people, more so because
they were not elected. The sources alleged that SWALIMO was the same as
Tinkhundla System of Government because more people were appointed than being
elected and decisions were imposed. The sources wondered why the leadership said
the congress would be held in three years’ time yet SWALIMO had active
structures now and was ready to go to congress. They said in the first place,
the timeframe was imposed by the very same leadership, it was not agreed upon by
the general membership. They said there were no reasons given as to why it would
take three years to hold the first congress.
When sought for comment on the matter, SWALIMO’s 1st DSG (Gift Dlamini) said
the allegations  or calls for a congress were unfounded, given that the entire
leadership of SWALIMO was on interim basis and the deployment approach was
currently used to solidify the structures until the first elective congress.
“Nortwitholding that some mischievous narratives are spread contrary to the
resolution adopted,” said Gift. He said at a plenum that had over 100
leadership delegates, a resolution was taken that the first elective congress
would be in 36 months then, which was now less than 24 months away. “Like many
other political formations, due processes and diligence should be undertaken
prior, to ensure a successful elective conference,” he added. When asked how
the youth command unit or youth league was put in place, the deputy secretary
general said it was put into office the same way other structures had been put
into office in SWALIMO. “We believe in consistency,” he said.